Threatened with a strike in a month, Verizon Communications has a simple message for its unionized workers: Let's form a partnership so Verizon, one of the few unionized telecommunications companies, can compete in a fiercely competitive industry.þþBut the president of Verizon's largest union said it was well-nigh impossible to take talk of a partnership seriously when management was battling unionization efforts at Verizon's wireless operations. þþIntent on cutting costs, Ivan G. Seidenberg, the chief executive of Verizon, the nation's largest local telephone company, said it needed the union to help reduce soaring health care costs, cut absenteeism and ease contractual barriers to relocating workers. þþMorton Bahr, the president of the Communications Workers of America, replied that ÿpartnership is a two-way street.ÿ During a lengthy telephone interview on Friday, Mr. Bahr accused Verizon Wireless, a joint venture owned 55 percent by Verizon and 45 percent by the Vodafone Group of Britain, of ÿvicious, antiunion conduct,ÿ adding that the company's pleas for cooperation seem ÿkind of contradictory, hearing all that they're saying now against the union.ÿþþSince contract talks began in earnest last Monday, this powerful union and this giant company, with more than $67 billion in revenue last year, seem to be talking past each other, with each side insisting on a different focus for the talks. With Verizon's traditional local telephone business shrinking, Mr. Seidenberg sees cutting costs as vital to Verizon's long-term health, while Mr. Bahr sees unionizing the steadily growing wireless operation as pivotal to his union's long-term health. þþMr. Bahr has threatened a walkout on Aug. 2 by 75,000 Verizon workers in 12 states in the Northeast if the company does not agree to strong contractual provisions to pave the way to unionize nearly 20,000 workers at Verizon Wireless, which Verizon controls.þþThe union's No. 1 goal in its two-week strike against Verizon three years ago was to secure promises that would make it easier to unionize Verizon Wireless. But the communications workers have not unionized any of Verizon's wireless workers in the last three years, and they blame management's opposition for that. Union officials contrast this with their success at Cingular Wireless, a joint venture of BellSouth and SBC Communications where 15,000 wireless workers joined the union as management remained neutral. þþCompany officials argue that it is inappropriate for the union to seek to negotiate about unionizing Verizon Wireless because the existing agreement governing those matters does not expire until August 2004. Furthermore, company officials assert, Verizon Wireless is a separate entity. þþÿVerizon Wireless isn't part of these negotiations,ÿ said Peter Thonis, a company spokesman. ÿWe believe it's extremely important to focus on the needs of the 75,000 workers covered by the current union contract.ÿþþVerizon executives also assert that managers of the wireless operation are not fighting unionization. These executive say managers at Verizon Wireless are allowed to speak out against unionization because the contract reached three years ago, even though it is called a neutrality agreement, allows either side to give its views on the subject.þþÿOur position isn't that we oppose unionization,ÿ said Eric Rabe, the vice president for media relations at Verizon. ÿWe feel the employees should be the ones making this decision.ÿþþThe union points to various Verizon Wireless letters and Web sites attacking unionization, including a letter by a vice president for human resources saying: ÿOur position is clear. We do not support the efforts by unions to unionize our employees.ÿþþManagement, the union points out, has told workers that the union desperately needs them to increase membership and that when union bargaining begins workers can lose benefits they already enjoy.þþÿI know Ivan Seidenberg's philosophy,ÿ Mr. Bahr said. ÿHe can't support this kind of vicious, antiunion conduct.ÿþþGreg Neubauer, a customer service representative at a Verizon Wireless call center in Orangeburg, N.Y., said the unionization campaign there failed because of management's campaign against it. ÿA lot of people are for the union, but people are afraid,ÿ he said. ÿSome of them are intimidated.ÿþþHe said he earned $32,000 a year, while unionized operators and technicians generally earn $45,000 to $60,000 a year, which the company says makes them among the nation's highest-paid unionized employees. þþVerizon executives want the negotiations to focus on ways to make Verizon more competitive during an era of deregulation in which prices are falling, revenues are stagnant, several major telecommunications companies have gone bankrupt and low-cost competitors have entered the fray. þþÿThe issue of becoming a more efficient company and a better competitor is essential not only for Verizon but for our employees,ÿ Mr. Thonis said. ÿIf you're thinking what's good for unionized workers, helping Verizon remain competitive has to remain high on the list.ÿþþÿTo maintain its market position in this competitive environment, Verizon certainly has an incentive to cut costs,ÿ said Richard W. Hurd, a professor of labor relations at Cornell. ÿBy the same token, with a continued growth in wireless, the union has an incentive to gain access to the wireless part of the market. The C.W.A. won't recognize Verizon's needs unless Verizon recognizes the C.W.A.'s needs.ÿþþThe company argues that it loses $600 million a year to absenteeism, noting that 6 percent of unionized workers are out each day. It also says that its workers pay 5 percent of their health care costs, while General Electric's unionized workers pay 18 percent and workers in the average company health plan pay 26 percent. The company has proposed higher co-payments and deductibles. þþÿWe're not proposing that they go to 18 or 26 percent, but there has to be a number that is fair above 5 percent,ÿ Mr. Rabe said.þþPointing to a recent contract with Qwest Communications International, in which the union agreed to wage freezes, Mr. Bahr said his union often granted concessions when companies were in need. But he said that Verizon, with high executive salaries and $4.08 billion in profit last year, was not in need. þþ
Source: NY Times
